Malkangiri district is one of the worst LWE affected districts in
the country. Maintaining the day to day law and order and ensuring a
secured atmosphere is in itself a major challenge to the police force as
well as the district administration. In such circumstances, conducting
elections was the most challenging task. Conducting incident free and
fair poll depended on the successful and innovative deployment of the
forces and providing security to the polling officials as well as the
voters. Taking into account the threat perception of the LWEs to disrupt
poll process an innovative and unprecedented plan was worked out in
consultation with senior officers, CAPF authorities, Dist. Administration
and finally all the security personnel’s from the GRs to Senior officers
were mobilized and motivated to tactfully handle the challenges. As a
result of the successful and effective deployment of the forces no large
scale violence took place and the entire election process passed
through peacefully with the active participation of the voters.
Mahupadar
P.SP.S
Mahupadar
79 P.S
MALKANGIRI MAP ALONG WITH
MALKANGIRI MAP
ALONG
WITH NAXAL
MALKANGIRI
MAP
ALONG
WITH
NAXALAFFECTED
AFFECTED
AREAS
AREAS
NAXAL AFFECTED AREAS
P.S. LOCATIONS OF MALKANGIRI DIST.
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Malkangiri District is geographically located in the South-Western Part of
Odisha. It shares border with Chhatisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
Movement of large numbers of armed naxal cadres in the bordering
areas is reported frequently. As most of the areas are surrounded by hills
and dense forests these areas are inaccessible and are safe havens for
the naxalites.
In such a situation, mobilization of forces and conducting the election
was a daunting task and a major challenge for the police and the district
administration. Elections that have been conducted in the past have also
witnessed large scale violence and disruptions. However, in comparison
to the elections, both general elections and local body elections in the
past the General Election-2014 was successfully completed without any
untoward incident and increase in the voters turn out. In the last general
election of 2009 many incidents of naxal violence were reported. Reports
of booth capturing and burning of vehicles used for election purposes
were also reported at different places. Similarly, during the local body

election which was held in the year 2012, 04 Senior BSF Officials were
killed in Naxal violence just one day before the poll and the armed
naxal cadres caused violence by looting of ballot boxes, burning of
vehicle used for election and disrupted the poll process.
As a run up to the poll process the naxals tried hard to spread violence
by targeting the security forces and creating terror among the voters. To
put into effect their heinous plan they had planted IED’s along the track
where they anticipated the movement of the troops. However, due to
meticulous planning and scrupulous adherence to the plan not a single
life was lost. Many roads that were mined were avoided and alternative
routes were figured out and used. However, in the bordering district
Sukuma in Chhattisgarh more than twenty security personnel died due
to the land mine blasts in different incidents. These incidents were
bound to dampen the spirit of the security forces as well as the voters.
However a pro-active intervention by the district police and the district
administration through various confidence building measures,
awareness campaigning, regular village visit, and community policing
initiatives helped in restoring the confidence of the voters who turned
out in huge numbers to vote.
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A security audit was carried out which helped to place in demand
the quantum of forces required for the elections. After meticulous
analysis considering all the aspects 04 Battalions of BSF which is
already in place in the district, 08 teams of Special Operations
Group and district force were mobilized. In addition to it 10 extra
coys of BSF was also mobilized to dominate strategic core areas.
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Route maps were prepared before one month taking into
consideration the location of polling booths and intensity of naxal
activities with grid reference and made available to all the
operational parties. The teams were briefed on routes and other
aspects such as patrolling the periphery of the booth, providing
security to the voters and the polling officials and escorting them
safely after the election.
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During General Election-2014, Malkangiri district was divided into 36
core areas and BSF, SOG and district police force were utilized with
priority given to these 36 core areas. Interstate borders were sealed to
check infiltration of naxal cadres either from Chhattisgarh or Andhra
Pradesh.
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To ensure that the security forces mobilized from outside perform their
task without any fault a pre-induction training was given for fifteen days to
the forces to familiarize them with the terrain, culture and custom as well
as naxal history, ideology and tactics. Case study method was used,
photographs, video and films were displayed and observed, various case
studies where naxal had ambushed security parties resulting in the loss
of lives were discussed to avoid any untoward incidents.
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Every CAPF team were provided with a representative of the local Police
from the time of their induction till the completion of electoral process so
that they could do their duty well because of their knowledge of terrain
and local language.
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CAPFs who were mobilized from outside were inducted at
strategic
locations viz. Kalimela, M.V.03, Mathili, Sikhpalli, Naikguda, Tunnel
Camp etc. to conceal and avoid their unnecessary movement. The above
mentioned places are core areas. The forces were stationed at one
location and was deployed at the other to conceal their movement.
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We adopted a security plan where in the deployed forces would patrol
the periphery of the polling booths and touch each of them at least twice
a day before the polls. The operational troops were deployed in core
areas well in advance before 48 hrs. The operational troops provided a
security blanket to both the polling parties and the local police personnel
deployed at the booth level.
In view of a severe threat perception during the General Election2014, a well planned and strategic police arrangement was made
utilising the security personnel from CAPF, Special Operation
Group, DVF and district police Forces including GRs and HGs.
Gazetted officers were placed in charge of supervising the force
deployed at different sectors. QRTs were stationed at different
locations to intervene in case of any emergency. To monitor all
the developments on the poll day a control room was setup at
DIB, Malkangiri with VHF and telephone facilities. The control
room was functional 24x7 from pre-electoral process to the
completion of electoral process. To avoid any incident of land
mine blast mobilization of forces were done carefully observing
utmost secrecy and concealment. Helicopter services were used
to drop the security personnel and the polling officials in the
booths located at inaccessible areas.
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No use of four wheeler on the poll day policy. Normally naxals targets
security forces by using IED. To avoid such incidents strong decision
was taken that not a single four wheeler will be used for carrying
security personnel on poll day. Troops were directed to march o foot
and in no circumstances they would use a vehicle. This policy was
observed in letter ans spirit. Therefore, not a single IED blast/casualty
happened. All the forces were briefed and sensitized well in advance
on the precautionary measures and were instructed to observe it in
letter and spirit.
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Operational plans were chalked out well in advance and it was
personally supervised by the SP. Exigency plans such as evacuation
of wounded in case of an encounter, replacement of EVM’s in case of
destruction and reinforcement of forces in case of any emergency
were prepared well in advance and all the resources well put in place.
All the officers and men were briefed about their respective jobs.
The most challenging task was the safe return of the forces
to their respective base camps. There is precedent that the
security forces face maximum risk of walking into an ambush or
suffering casualty on their return. To ensure that nothing untoward
of that sort takes place extreme caution was taken in this regard.
And many innovative ideas were applied. For e.g. in Malkangiri
there are many Irrigation Canals and to cross the canal there are
iron bridges, normally naxal targets security forces on these
bridges. To avoid such incidents irrigation department was asked
well in advance to stop the canal water flow before polling day for
the safe passage of forces. Another innovative plan was worked
out whereby the parties would provide ROP’s to each other while
returning. The plan worked out very well and all the parties
returned safely to their bases.
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Security Deployment:
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The important factors that were taken into consideration while
preparing the deployment were the following.
◦ Distance Factor: Thirty six core areas were located in the
district taking into account the terrain, accessibility, presence
of armed naxal cadres, support of the villagers, possibility of
IED’s on the way and the scope of communication with the
teams once they are inducted into the core. In order to avoid
any communication gap and ensuring re-enforcement in case
of any exigency, deployment plan was made in such a way
that the other group inducted in another area would be well in
a position to reinforce the group.
◦ Tactical Factor:
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For tactical reasons the deployment of forces to
different core areas were done at different dates. For
example, in some core areas security forces were deployed
on the day previous to the day of polling keeping in mind the
distance to be covered, risk involved and terrain to be
negotiated. By adopting such measures, it was possible for
the security forces to reach to the polling booths and return
safely after the completion of the polls.
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Achievement:
INCREASE IN THE PERCENTAGE OF VOTING AS COMPARED TO THE
VOTING PERCENTAGE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN 2009.
Malkangiri district, which is considered as one of the hot bed of
Maoists activities has shown a remarkable increase of nearly 24
percent in the voter turnout in comparison to the 2009 elections.
While in 2009 only 50.5 percent of the voters in the district turned out
to cast their votes, this election registered a record turnout of 74.13
percent voters who exercised their franchise. The sharp increase in
the voters turn out was despite the Maoist call to boycott the
elections. Constituency wise, Chitrakonda assembly constituency
registered 73.65 per cent voting. On the other hand Malkangiri
assembly constituency recorded 74.51 percent. Elaborate security
arrangement, innovative awareness campaign increased the
confidence of the voters immensely and thwarted the evil designs of
Maoists to subvert the electoral process.

Despite the Naxal call to boycott the Elections,
high
percentage of voters casted their votes showing unflinching faith
on Democracy.
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It is also heartening to note that there wasn’t any loss of life
during the entire process despite the extreme threat perception to
disrupt the poll process by causing violence. The entire team of
Polling parties, candidates and security forces completed the task
without any case of violence and bloodletting.